Last month nearly 32 percent of all people in the United States over the age of 25 held at least a bachelor’s degree, setting a record in the U.S. This is dramatically different from twenty years ago when only 22% of the U.S. population had obtained a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Today, in the U.S., over 65 million individuals over the age of 25 have, at a minimum, obtained a bachelors degree. Of this total approximately:

• 15.9 million are not employed and not seeking employment and therefore not considered to be a part of the workforce
• 47.5 million are employed
• 1.9 million are unemployed and seeking employment

Each category broken down by employment status:

The number of people with a bachelor’s degree and higher that are not employed and NOT seeking employment has more than doubled in the past twenty years. This steady incline is likely to be, in part, due to members of  the baby boom generation choosing to retire and a possible increase in the number of discouraged workers.

The number of people with a bachelor’s degree and higher that are employed continues to rise, however, from 2008 to 2010 the number was fairly steady as the country was in the midst of a major recession.

The number of people with a bachelor’s degree and higher that were unemployed and seeking employment peaked during the fall of 2010. It has since fallen, but remains well above levels from the past twenty-one years.

Data Source: U.S. Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics